Abstract:
Despite being nearly 10 months into the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease
2019) pandemic, the definitive animal host for SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syn-
drome coronavirus 2), the causal agent of COVID-19, remains unknown. Unfortunately,
similar problems exist for other betacoronaviruses, and no vouchered specimens exist to
corroborate host species identification for most of these pathogens. This most basic in-
formation is critical to the full understanding and mitigation of emerging zoonotic dis-
eases. To overcome this hurdle, we recommend that host-pathogen researchers adopt
vouchering practices and collaborate with natural history collections to permanently
archive microbiological samples and host specimens. Vouchered specimens and associ-
ated samples provide both repeatability and extension to host-pathogen studies, and
using them mobilizes a large workforce (i.e., biodiversity scientists) to assist in pandemic
preparedness. We review several well-known examples that successfully integrate host-
pathogen research with natural history collections (e.g., yellow fever, hantaviruses,
helminths). However, vouchering remains an underutilized practice in such studies.
Using an online survey, we assessed vouchering practices used by microbiologists
(e.g., bacteriologists, parasitologists, virologists) in host-pathogen research. A much
greater number of respondents permanently archive microbiological samples than
archive host specimens, and less than half of respondents voucher host specimens
from which microbiological samples were lethally collected. To foster collabora-
tions between microbiologists and natural history collections, we provide recom-
mendations for integrating vouchering techniques and archiving of microbiological
samples into host-pathogen studies. This integrative approach exemplifies the pre-
mise underlying One Health initiatives, providing critical infrastructure for
Citation Thompson CW, Phelps KL, Allard MW,
Cook JA, Dunnum JL, Ferguson AW, Gelang M,
Khan FAA, Paul DL, Reeder DM, Simmons NB,
Vanhove MPM, Webala PW, Weksler M,
Kilpatrick CW. 2021. Preserve a voucher
specimen! The critical need for integrating
natural history collections in infectious disease
studies. mBio 12:e02698-20. https://doi.org/10
.1128/mBio.02698-20.
Editor Vinayaka R. Prasad, Albert Einstein
College of Medicine
Copyright © 2021 Thompson et al. This is an
open-access article distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International license.
Address correspondence to Cody W.
Thompson, cwthomp@umich.edu, or Kendra L.
Phelps, phelps@ecohealthalliance.org.
Published 12 January 2021
January/February 2021 Volume 12 Issue 1 e02698-20 ® mbio.asm.org 1
MINIREVIEW
on January 12, 2021 at FDA Library http://mbio.asm.org/ Downloaded from
addressing related issues ranging from public health to global climate change and
the biodiversity crisis.
